Anybody had hardware failure experience with server built from generic PC equipments?

I'm building a cheap PC for co-location. It has IDE harddrive , $30 no-brand Case (with powersupply) , $60 generic mobo , old 10Mbps 3com NIC and sdram no buffered. It is up in the budget of $300.

My friends said I can't use them for 24 hours operation or the IDE harddrive and cheap Powersupply will fail in no longer than a few months. Is this true ? Should I upgrade to an expensive Enermax Powersupply, ECC, Tyan/Supermicro mobo , or even SCSI harddrive ? Is the new 10/100 3com NIC faster than an old 10 Mbps NIC on normal operation (1-2 Mbps request) ?

You didn't say what brand of hard drive, or if the powersupply was UL listed, but your friend could be full of FUD. I see no reason why the machine shouldn't run for a long time as long as it's properly cooled (has fans, and ones that will last more than a few months), provided the hard drive is of a good brand and the power supply is UL listed.

Why you'd buy an old 10Mbit 3com card, when you can get a Realtek 8139 for less than $10, I don't know. But that's the only thing that I would replace, unless you're only going to be connected to a 10Mbit network. IMHO.

Your friend it correct that cheaper hard drives and psus are more likely to fail in the server market, where they run (or at least hopefully ;)) 24/7. Even though they are more likely to fail, it doesn't mean they will only last a couple of months - they may last a year, but with higher quality / more expensive components, the chance of failing is lower.

Regards
Matt

People choose IBM dekstar IDE because of its reiliability and so do I. My friend run Seagate IDE in his server which failed in a few months.

The only thing I don't go cheap is Heatsink(I choose Thermalright SK-6) and case cooling . This Athlon machine run at 35 C full load . I bought a noname Taiwan Case with 6 *80mm fans inside for $30. But I am not sure if the no-brand Powersupply coming along with the Case will last long. Anybody ever had Powersupply failure problem ?

Not sure about Realtek because people say NIC other than 3com will have network problem. I dont' like to invest $40 for a new 10/100 3com because somebody said AMD cpu are not friendly with the new NIC so I pulled an old 10Mbps 3com out of my old PC and will use it for co-location but don't know if it's inferior to the new 10/100 one?

Thank you
jakis

In my experience over the last 10+ years, computers that run constant are more likely to last longer than machines that are turned on, turned off, turn on, turned off. Each time you turn on a machine, it send an electric jolt to everything (it's tiny, but it's there) which, over time, might damage things like a PS or a hard drive.

I've got several machines with power supplies and hard drives that are several years old that are still running great. They are el-cheapo machines with cost in mind, instead of quality. Of course, nothing important runs on them, but they still run and I use them almost every day. They have been almost-constantly running for years (a couple of shutdowns here and there to move it, etc).

The machines are on UPSes that condition the line, so that probably has helped keep their lifespan high. I highly recommend plugging any computer you want to survive long periods of time into conditioned power, most likely from a UPS.